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Just Say No to State Bailouts

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CHICAGO, Ill. (IRN) – Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois wants the federal government to say no to any bailouts of financially imperiled states.

Kirk and 14 other Republican senators have introduced the No State Bailouts Resolution, saying the federal government must not bail out states — in order to preserve the federal government’s credit rating.

“Should the federal government do that, we would first of all break historic precedent, and secondly we would put further pressure on the credit of the United States, which is already in jeopardy following the report of the S&P rating agencies,” Kirk said at a press conference at his Chicago office to announce introduction of the resolution.

The rating agency Standard & Poor last month downgraded its long-term outlook for U.S. debt to negative, meaning there is a one-in-three chance that the government could lose its AAA rating in the next two years.

Kirk says he hasn’t heard any earnest discussion of bailouts for financially troubled states such as Illinois and California, so there’s no urgency to the measure, but Kirk says it would be a warning to states that whatever problems they have, they’ll have to solve on their own.